


Art for 'Up one way and down the other'

by Salchat



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Ancients (Stargate), Angst, Ascension, Awkward Sexual Situations, Bad Sex, Blow Jobs, Consent Issues, Cuddling & Snuggling, Developing Relationship, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Good Sex, Hand Jobs, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Internal Conflict, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:41:36
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26793814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Salchat/pseuds/Salchat
Summary: Art for my story, 'Up one way and down the other', in which John and Rodney get into trouble off-world, but rescue comes from an unexpected quarter.  And then the trouble really starts...There will be one piece of art (or more if I'm feeling inspired) for each of the six chapters, to be posted when they're ready!
Relationships: Rodney McKay/John Sheppard
Comments: 27
Kudos: 37





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Up one way and down the other](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26613943) by [Salchat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Salchat/pseuds/Salchat). 



"I don't want to die!"

Rodney saw the fear in his friend's eyes, the reflection of his own. "Neither do I," he said softly.

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50518587348/in/dateposted-public/)>

'The jaunty cowlicks waggled back and forth as John walked, catching flecks of dappled sunshine, which found amber lights amongst the black. The unusually pointed tips of his ears were pink; Rodney wondered if they were sunburnt. His own shoulders and back felt hot and tight. The v of dark hair at the nape of John’s neck directed Rodney to study his friend’s shoulders, pale beneath the tanned crescent at the base of his neck. Their muscles flexed as he walked, his arms, bereft of their P90, swinging at his sides, his long fingers slightly curled. His body was loose, relaxed, as if he considered himself safe because the universe had already gone its length today and he’d survived.' 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charcoal on water-colour paper, with a tiny hint of coloured pastels.

“Oh, God!” He leapt up, ran into the bathroom and studied himself in the mirror. He looked normal. A little pasty. Then he thought about John; his smile, his hair, his alluring, indefinable Sheppardiness. A part of Rodney’s brain tried to observe dispassionately, as his face took on a melty look. His eyes became extra blue, his mouth wobbled dreamily and his cheeks became tinged with a delicate blush. He groaned. “This is bad. This is really bad. So, so, bad.”

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50443211548/in/dateposted-public/)


	3. Chapter 3

Rodney’s gaze darted between John’s eyes and his lips. Should he? Yes, yes he should. Enough pussy-footing around! He leant toward John. John leant toward him. There was a brief moment of confusion where they both angled the same way and then both the other way, then John made an ‘after you’ expression with his eyebrows (how did he do that?) and then their lips were together and they were actually kissing.

And it was sweet, so sweet, because even though John’s lips had pressed to his before, it wasn’t the same because he’d had his eyes shut and he hadn’t been expecting it, so that this was their first time, their first kiss. It was almost unbearably, painfully sweet. John’s lips were warm and soft and surrounded by the scrape of his stubble and they parted just a little so that the warmth and softness combined with slick wetness, and the sensation set off a chain reaction of tingling and fizzing which travelled throughout Rodney’s body. 

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50472201182/in/dateposted-public/)


	4. Chapter 4

The bedside light was still on; Rodney couldn’t reach to turn it off and he didn’t want to. His back had stiffened up and John had tried to turn and face him, and their combined wriggling had nearly ended with both of them on the floor. But peace and comfort had been achieved and now the golden glow encased them in its secluded warmth and the silence was only broken by John’s soft puffs of breath from sleep-slackened lips, which gently ruffled the hairs on Rodney’s chest. The entire city could have been deserted, theirs to roam in freedom, unheeding of judgement or duty or the uncertainty of the future. It was an illusion, of course, this pausing of time, this capsule of intimacy. Life moved on with each passing breath and it was possible that, after each breath, John would wake, and regret, and pull away. But for now, they were together, John’s body relaxed against Rodney’s, his head on Rodney’s chest, Rodney’s arm around his friend’s back.

Would John regret what they had done? Could he, after the joy they had shared, slide back into that state of mistrust, feeling betrayed by body and mind both? Rodney would not regret it, not even if he woke in the grey morning and felt no more than friendship. Regardless of how they had reached this point, regardless of dubious consent and ambivalent feelings about their situation, he would not set aside this joining with his friend in shared pleasure, this discovery of a new way of being together that went far above and beyond their years of comradeship.

He tightened his arms around John, the scratch of the military-issue blanket above, the real, unromanticised flesh below; in places smooth, in others callused, scattered with scars and blemishes, a lived-in, hard-working body; John’s body, here in his arms. Rodney bent his head forward and laid a kiss in the thicket of John’s upstanding hair; not to set the seal on the future, but simply to mark this moment, this one special moment in time.

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50487948843/in/dateposted-public/)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've added an extra picture for chapter one this week. Please go back and have a look! I'm also hoping to embed smaller versions in the story.

...John was sitting cross-legged on the bed, head bent over the magazine in his lap, a faint line between his brows.

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50519480907/in/dateposted-public/)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is an experiment in oil pastels, in which, for me at least, it seems to be impossible to get any detail at all and you just have to hope it creates the right impression. I went for a bright outline and a very little shading and light interior outlining. The paper is actually a lighter grey than it looks, but it reflected the light too much, so I went into a dark corner to take a photo and I like this effect better. I hope you like it too.

A longing, aching need awoke in Rodney’s chest and in his arms; a tearing, wrenching, soul-deep imperative. And he didn’t care anymore. He didn’t care about gender or embarrassment, or risk of rejection. He was in pain and so was his friend, his best friend, the friend that he loved. He stepped forward and wrapped John in his arms and held him and pushed his face into John’s neck and closed his eyes against the world. Arms came around his back, first one and then the other, lightly gifting soft, diffident pats, then suddenly gripping, squeezing, holding tightly, while coarse stubble scratched against his neck and his cheek and the warm dampness of John’s breath came and went in sharp, desperate gusts.

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/190544196@N08/50544539527/in/dateposted-public/)


End file.
